Handling New Earth

Hi all, my name is Madison. In this post I’ll be recounting a bit about how travelling opened my eyes to sustainable practices.

At the end of 2017, I felt confused. I was halfway through my degree but lacked a sense of purpose. As an artist, I didn’t have a cause I wanted to make art for. After bouncing between discourses surrounding feminism and consumerism, things that I believed would resonate within me, I finally dropped out. I knew that I needed worldly experience to form stronger opinions, so I decided to fly to Vietnam. Little did I know at the time, I would not be back in New Zealand for nearly 2 years, as January 2018 saw the beginning of a journey that took me to Australia, United States, Guam and throughout Asia.

Every country I visited left an impact on my worldview. In Vietnam, remote villages that don’t even have electricity are littered with plastic bottles. In Bali, postcard beaches are completely trashed with plastic straws from tourists sipping coconuts. In Oklahoma, some dine-in restaurants use single-use plastic cutlery as standard cutlery. I saw people chucking their fast food bags out of car windows. I’ll never forget the time I went to the supermarket there and asked for no plastic bag. The cashier, looking confused, took a plastic bag from the rack and directly put it in the bin. What?! It made me realise that while considering the environment is so commonplace in New Zealand, it isn’t always as prevalent elsewhere. It was so devastating to see that I began feeling disconnected.

Then at the end of 2019, I saw the biggest shift within me. I was looking for a challenging experience, so I joined some likewise travelers I’d met online to spend a month camping in the misty mountains of Central Taiwan. I brought essentials, food and a tent, but otherwise we lived off the land, keeping a fire going to cook with and provide warmth. Spending time in nature is so incredible. Over the month, the personal connection that I found with nature is one that I will now carry with me for the rest of my life. I learnt that nature isn’t something separate from me but that I am a part of nature. To hurt the environment is to hurt ourselves. Living harmoniously with nature made me so carefree, so grateful and it gifted me with so much clarity. That camping trip retaught me compassion, gave me newfound confidence and taught me that I could make positive change starting with myself.

I’ve now been back in Aotearoa for some time, and that clarity I found in the mountains of Taiwan hasn’t faded. If anything, it’s deepened. Since then, I’ve continued developing a practice rooted in environmentalism and human connection — two things I’ve realised can’t exist in isolation. My art is no longer just about expression; it’s about creating spaces where people can feel seen, proud of themselves, and connected — to each other and to the earth. I now work predominantly with clay and community, running workshops that bring together people.

That early journey cracked something open in me, and I’ve been following the thread ever since.